In situ combustion offers one approach for recovering oil from reservoirs in certain geologic formations. With in situ combustion, an oxidant injected into the reservoir reacts with some of the oil to propagate a combustion front through the reservoir. This process heats the oil ahead of the combustion front. Further, the injection gas and combustion gas products drive the oil that is heated toward an adjacent production well.
Success of in situ combustion depends on stability of the combustion front. For maximum recovery of the oil, the combustion front must be able to stay ignited in order to sweep across the entire reservoir above a horizontal portion of the production well. Prior approaches often result in instability of the combustion front or even premature extinguishing of the combustion front.
Therefore, a need exists for improved methods and systems for oil recovery with in situ combustion.